Cape Town - Star breaststroker Tatjana Schoenmaker helped raise South African spirits on Day 2 of the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea on Monday.

After a slow start on Day 1 when no swimmer qualified for a semi-final, let alone final, Schoenmaker stormed her way into the women's 100m breaststroke semi-finals after posting the fourth-fastest time in the heats.

Swimming out of Lane 3 in Heat 6, Schoenmaker, who celebrated her 22nd birthday earlier in the month, posted a time of 1:06.76.

That time proved to be the fourth-fastest overall behind American Lilly King's 1:06.31.

Schoenmaker will swim out of Lane 5 in the first semi-final at 13:29 SA time on Monday.

Meanwhile, Christopher Reid narrowly missed out on qualification for the men's 100m backstroke semi-finals when he posted the 19th-fastest time in the heats.

Reid's time of 54.12 was 1.27 outside the quickest time of China Jiayu Xu (52.85).

Other South Africa's in action in Monday's heats were Mariella Venter in the women's 100m backstroke. Venter recorded the 39th-quickest time of 1:02.95, a full 4.04 behind Canada's Kylie Masse (58.91).

Eben Vorster took to the water in the men's 200m freestyle, but finished well off the pace in 44th spot in a time of 1:51.70. Great Britain's James Guy holds the fastest time of 1:46.18 heading into the semi-finals.